VacationSelector
The adobe New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe
Santa FeThe adobe New Mexico Museum of Art
A chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain, Whistler
WhistlerA chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain

Photos: Santa Fe by dconvertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Whistler by Ruth Hartnup, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Santa Fe or Whistler?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Santa Fe for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Fe’s own page.

Choose Whistler for

  • getting around
  • beaches
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Whistler’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Santa Fe 5, Whistler 30: Whistler leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Santa Fe 62, Whistler 40: Santa Fe leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Fe 66, Whistler 20: Santa Fe leads by 46 points.
Nightlife. Santa Fe 22, Whistler 42: Whistler leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Fe 80, Whistler 97: Whistler leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Santa Fe 70, Whistler 30: Santa Fe leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Santa Fe 45, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Santa Fe 40, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Fe 62, Whistler 30: Santa Fe leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Santa Fe 30, Whistler 12: Santa Fe leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Fe 55, Whistler 15: Santa Fe leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Fe 55, Whistler 60: Whistler leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Fe and Whistler.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Santa Fe
Best match
49match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

Whistler
43match

Wins on getting around and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Santa Fe in July

31 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
60 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Whistler in July

25 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Santa FeWhistler

Where the figures come from

Santa Fe's station stands 199 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Santa Fe has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Whistler has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santa Fe: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Fe / Cieneguilla (12.4 km from centre). Whistler: 1991-2020 normals, Whistler - Nesters (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta FeWhistler
Official language-French, English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation2,134 m670 m
Main airportSanta Fe Municipal Airport (SAF)12 km from centre5 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)104 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta FeWhistler
City population87,50513,982
People per km²64558
Museums within 10 km101
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Santa Fe or Whistler somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.